Legislative Council: Eastern Metropolitan

Eastern Metropolitan region extends from the lower house districts of Ivanhoe and Box Hill at the western end to Croydon and Bayswater in the east, and from Mount Waverley and Ferntree Gully in the south to Eltham in the north. Relative population decline in this area has caused the region to be substantially changed by the redistribution, with the addition of the Ivanhoe and Mount Waverley districts compensating for the abolition of Doncaster and Scoresby.

The results at both the 2006 and 2010 elections were three seats for the Liberals and two for Labor. Notwithstanding the slight weakening in their position with the redistribution, this remains an area of strength for the Liberals, who hold nine of its 11 constituent lower house seats. As such, there is little prospect of a third seat for Labor, and it will take a substantial swing against the Liberals to create an opening for the Greens or any other minor party.

The Liberals are using their Eastern Metropolitan ticket to accommodate Mary Wooldridge following the abolition of her seat of Doncaster. Wooldridge entered parliament in 2006 and was immediately made a shadow minister, and served in the mental health, women’s affairs and community services portfolios after the 2010 election victory, before exchanging women’s affairs for disability services after Ted Baillieu stood aside in March 2013. Her vacancy in Eastern Metropolitan has been created by the retirement of Jan Kronberg, member since 2006. Kronberg’s decision to retire in March resolved a headache for the party, coming shortly after Wooldridge had failed in her bid to secure an alternative lower house berth in the blue-ribbon Melbourne seat of Kew. Wooldridge’s 151-105 defeat in the local party ballot at the hands of former Stonnington mayor Tim Smith was a serious embarrassment for Denis Napthine, who had strongly backed Wooldridge and declared up to the day of the ballot that she would win.

Maintaining his position at number two on the Liberal ticket is Bruce Atkinson, who has served throughout the present term as President of the Legislative Council, whose career in the chamber goes back to 1992. Atkinson represented Koonung province prior to the reforms of 2006, and has held the second position on the Eastern Metropolitan ticket ever since. He was promoted to shadow cabinet following the 2002 election, but his career prospects were dented when his ally Robert Doyle relinquished the leadership in May 2006, and he was removed from the shadow ministry the following December and given the position of the Council’s deputy president. Following Wooldridge’s failure in the Kew preselection, it was reported that Denis Napthine sought to persuade Atkinson to make way for her, but Jan Kronberg shortly resolved the difficulty with her own retirement announcement.

The big loser from the rearrangement required to give Wooldridge a safe seat has been Richard Dalla-Riva, who was top of the Liberal ticket in 2010 but has now been demoted to number three. Dalla-Riva is a former fraud squad detective who entered parliament as the member for East Yarra province at the 2002 election, when he held on by 1.4% in the face of a historic Labor landslide. He was immediately appointed to the front bench, and secured top place on the Eastern Metropolitan ticket at the 2006 election in what was seen as a defeat for then-leader Robert Doyle and his allies in the Kroger-Costello faction, whose local standard bearer was Bruce Atkinson. He resigned from the shadow ministry in February 2007 over what he admitted was colourful language he had used towards an 18-year-old girl while driving her home from a Liberal Party function, which he followed up with a similarly dubious text message the following morning. He was nonetheless elevated to cabinet after the 2010 election victory in the employment and industrial relations and exports and trade portfolios, before being dumped in the reshuffle that followed Ted Baillieu’s departure in March 2013.

The top two positions on the Labor ticket are unchanged for the third election running. In first place is Shaun Leane, whose background is with the Left faction Electrical Trades Union. Leane first won preselection at the 2006 election as part of a deal with the Right that included his union’s support for Bill Shorten to depose Bob Sercombe in the seat of Maribyrnong. Despite his status on the Labor ticket, he has remained on the back bench throughout his parliamentary career.

Number two on the ticket is Brian Tee, whose pre-parliamentary career was spent as a staffer to then Attorney-General Rob Hulls. He earlier worked as an industrial lawyer for the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (now United Voice), although he has more lately been better known for his membership of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, which the Liberals have sought to raise as an election issue. Tee attained the position of parliamentary secretary at the time John Brumby became Premier in August 2007, and was elevated to the shadow ministry following the November 2010 election defeat, firstly in the planning and sustainable growth portfolios, then in major projects and infrastucture after February 2013.

In third place is Dimity Paul, who works in marketing for Maurice Blackburn and was formerly a staffer to then Senator David Feeney.

The lead Greens candidate is Samantha Dunn, who represents Lyster ward on Yarra Ranges Shire Council.

There are a further 13 parties on the ticket, of whom the Australian Christians and Liberal Democratic Party appear the strongest chances of gaining the final seat.

The lead Australian Christians candidate is Vickie Janson, author of a book on the rising Islamisation of Australia.

The Liberal Democratic Party candidate is Abe Salt, president of the party’s Victorian branch.

Simplified preference tickets

Excluded from consideration: the top two Liberal and Labor candidates.